Refugee Requiem

The struggle to topple Confederate statues around the country is a challenge to rewrite the textbook version of American history we’re supposed to believe in. Poets Patrick Rosal, Bao Phi, and Sokunthary Svay confront nationalist mythology with lyrical odes to the America we struggle against, and the one being built through struggle. Patrick Rosal—who the Academy of American Poets honored for writing the best book of poetry of the year—uncovers forgotten multi-racial histories through his family’s journey from the Phillipines to Brooklyn. Bao Phi and Sokunthary Svay trace their arrival into Minneapolis and the Bronx as refugees. They speak into existence defiant new American imaginaries, inspired by hip hop and the invisibilized Asian American urban poor. Come through!